Developed by and for the Bonnell Cove Foundation's "SUDDENLY ALONE Seminar"
which was first presented on April 7, 2001 in Mystic, CT.

Important Note: A person in the water will drift with the current so all searches must either calculate or estimate the direction and distance the person will move during the time it takes to get back to them.

1. GPS Man Overboard Function: Most GPS navigator devices will have a Man Overboard Function that is easily activated. Generally they simultaneously mark and set a course to a position for quick response in returning to the MOB.

2. GPS Tracback Navigation: Many GPS navigator devices have a track back feature that allows you to quickly reverse your path using the built in track log that is automatically stored in the receiver.

3. Distance Unit Search Plan: A search plan based on a sensible unit of distance within which you are confident of spotting someone in the water. (Excerpted from the US Sailing’s Certificate Series Passage Making book.)

Example: Suppose conditions are not too stormy and 25 yards seems like a certain distance that you can see someone in the water. Your unit length is twice this or 50 yards. Drop sails and motor for fifty yards either due north or to windward if you don’t want to use the compass. At 5 knots the boat will cover 50 yards in 18 seconds, which you can round to 20 seconds. When you have been steaming north for 20 seconds, turn sharply east and repeat the process, looking out on both sides continually. After 20 seconds turn to starboard again, heading south, but this time continue on for two units before swinging hard to the west for a further two units. Back on north, the next leg will be three units and so on.

Just remember the units come in "twos." Two at "1", 2 at "2", 2 at "3" and so on until you either find the victim or feel you have searched the full area of possibility. In which case, return to your GPS MOB position adjusted for current and start again. By working this system strictly, the boat is bound to pass within 25 yards of the crew overboard.

4. Time Unit Search Plan If the victim is not located promptly go to your best guess where the person was last seen and follow the search spiral diagram. Notice that each leg is 15 seconds longer than the leg before, but that the elapsed time from the start of the search plan is shown on the diagram.
    

Each leg is fifteen seconds longer than its predecessor. At six knots this produces a spiral with fifty yards between tracks. Slower speeds put tracks closer together, faster further apart.

BACK TO INDEX
NEXT - CREW OVERBOARD RECOVERY (By a single-handed crew)